17 September 2013

Pratt & Whitney’s PurePower engine successfully powered Bombardier’s new CSeries airplane on its maiden flight on Monday. The PW1500G engine, which achieved engine certification from Transport Canada in February, is the first of six new engine programs using Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbofan architecture to power an aircraft. (Earlier post.) Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company.

The fan drive gear system for Geared Turbofan engines. Click to enlarge.

In a Geared Turbofan engine, an advanced fan drive gear system allows the engine’s fan to operate at a speed different from that of the low-pressure compressor and turbine, resulting in greater fuel efficiency and a slower fan speed which results in less noise.

Built on the foundation of the company’s successful fifth generation fighter engines, the PW1000G Geared Turbofan engine family includes micro-circuit internal cooling to enhance durability and efficiency. Additionally, the leading edge coating technology derived and proven in the harshest environments provides the engine’s airfoils with a “non-stick” barrier that is critical for high temperatures and harsh environments.

The first-flight milestone is a key step forward to aircraft certification and entry-into-service. To date, the PW1500G engine has completed 3,000 hours of ground and flight testing.

Final assembly for the PW1500G engines will be at Pratt & Whitney Canada’s Mirabel Aerospace Centre in Mirabel, Québec. UTC Aerospace Systems, formed after UTC’s acquisition of Goodrich, provides the nacelle system.

Comments

That's good to hear (pun intended) but it won't do much for aviation emissions. There will be more pressure to relax flight curfews as planes get quieter. Here in Sydney there's already huge pressure to extend flight hours at Kingsford-Smith, which is only a few suburbs away from the CBD and with flight paths across heavy residential areas (including me!). Recent research from MIT indicated that flights to/from NZ & Australia across the Pacific are the worst for climate sensitivity.